Washington DC, United States

Author's Posts

October 27th, 201602With a sweat slicked forearm, Bacchus Wilson Panyonnoh hacks away the vines that snake over a young oil palm tree. He knows the rhythm of a whipping cutlass, the oppressive tropical heat that clings like a second skin and the dull sting of calloused hands well.
The 35-year-old comes from a long line of farmers and hunters from the...

October 27th, 201601Palm oil giant Golden Veroleum (GVL) has bulldozed religious sites in southeast Liberia and has paid police armed with assault rifles to protect its plantations, a new Global Witness exposé has revealed.
This comes fifteen months after the campaigns group published allegations that Liberians had been beaten, threatened and arrested...

October 26th, 2016027Barcelona (CNA).- The President of the Catalan Parliament, Carme Forcadell, will be investigated by Catalonia’s Supreme Court (TSJC) for perversion of justice and disobedience. This Tuesday, the Court notified Forcadell that it has admitted the complaint filed by Catalonia’s Public Prosecutor, José María Romero de Tejada, against...

October 26th, 2016021
"It could happen that both referendums are held without the agreement of their respective states, both would reply to a democratic logic that is difficult to contest and both would be essential for the future of the institutional architecture of the EU"
Nicola Sturgeon announced at the SNP annual conference that she would...

October 26th, 2016019Brussels (CNA).- The leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament, Syed Kamall, believes that a referendum on independence is a "good way" to resolve the situation in Catalonia. "I believe in self-determination and I was very proud when David Cameron offered the people of Scotland a...

October 26th, 2016018ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Exiled leaders of Iranian Kurdish groups warn that disintegration among their factions in the country has harmed their struggle for self-rule and call for a "joined approach" towards the Iranian government.
Leaders of the three main Kurdish parties of Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK), Kurdistan Democratic...

October 26th, 2016227As I write this, many brave soldiers and journalists endure serious hardships and threats on the frontlines around Mosul. In November 2014 I told my students in America that I would be surprised if the “Islamic State” (ISIS) endured as a de facto state much beyond two years. They seemed surprised and doubtful of my assessment, which...

October 26th, 2016123DIYARBAKIR, Turkey—The pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey condemns the arrest of Diyarbakir's co-mayors Gultan Kisanak and Firat Anli who were detained late Tuesday evening allegedly on charges of affiliation with the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
"They have to be released immediately, our people won't...

October 26th, 2016015Leader of Fianna Fail puts pressure on Irish government to support Scotland in EU
THE LEADER of Ireland’s main opposition party, Fianna Fáil, has said that the Republic of Ireland (RoI) should do all it can to support Scotland remaining in or rejoining the European Union (EU).
The comments were made during a commemoration...

Our animal passions and emotions have been brutally aroused and inflamed. A good number of our people, including youths and those in high places in our society, have developed callous cynicism and contempt for honesty and morality. Crimes are common and are committed with frightening abandon. Corruption is colossal and is practiced on a scale never before attempted, and with a skill and an impunity never before imagined possible